almandot:I'm amused by how chicken is high risk and chicken nuggets are like "haha don't worry about it" level. =)

That's because it's made with select chicken parts. You see, they take the chicken parts, and put them together into one big part. Fused as it were. Then they take the big part, and cut it up into little pieces of parts. And parts is parts!

almandot:I'm amused by how chicken is high risk and chicken nuggets are like "haha don't worry about it" level. =)

That's because chicken nuggets aren't meat as apples are to high rise apartment complexes...

The thing that's bothering me is that fish is missing completely from this article. Frozen fish is a HUGE risk.

I took an aborted semester of college right out of High School, but I hung out long enough to cover parasites in my biology class. Absolutely fascinating. There are parasites that have to start in one kind of animal, end in another, and have at least one more in the middle. They will stay encysted the entire time in between, only waking when they are in the right animal at the right time.

Anyway, you can cook the holy fark out of fish, but if you use the same tongs that you used to place it on the grill or in the fryer, or the same plate to transfer it back, it can be all for naught. Those particular parasites survive the freezing, but not the cooking, so you can get them on the tongs or plate, cook the fish completely, and then transfer that nasty little farker right back when all is said and done.

Ground beef definitely belongs on the list, but it's because they allow a certain level of contaminants to be introduced, meat can be dropped, picked up, and ground down as if nothing ever happened, and it's all completely legal. I'm a Rare-Mid Rare person, and I won't order a burger less than Mid-Well because of that.

Not sure why steak is on the list, I was always told that the solid muscle meats were harder to infect.

Chicken has some nasty bugs, too. Problem is, the "safe temp" they want you to cook everything to results in ethier a rubber block of "meat" for dinner or a hunk or charcoal.

Mikey1969:Not sure why steak is on the list, I was always told that the solid muscle meats were harder to infect.

Meat glue? The glueing of steak scraps together to make big steak is a thing, and because the resulting "steaks" aren't actually solid muscle, there is more surface area for microbes to latch onto. So, if someone gets what they think is a whole steak, and undercooks it... well, there's your risk right there.

Chicken nuggets are not fish. Totally different. Chicken nuggets are "mechanically separated" chicken, extruded, sliced off the extrusion, coated, fried, frozen, boxed. There is not a legal "chicken nugget" plant in the US that ships raw chicken nuggets. Doesn't happen. They're like hotdogs. When's the last time you ever saw a truly raw hotdog? Never. For the same reasons.

Also, you are wrong when you say "frozen fish" - there is frozen fish treated at "normal temperatures" and there is frozen fish done to "sushi temperatures" that kill parasites. Don't mix them up.

Canton:Mikey1969: Not sure why steak is on the list, I was always told that the solid muscle meats were harder to infect.

Meat glue? The glueing of steak scraps together to make big steak is a thing, and because the resulting "steaks" aren't actually solid muscle, there is more surface area for microbes to latch onto. So, if someone gets what they think is a whole steak, and undercooks it... well, there's your risk right there.

/Steak is wasted on me, anyway.//Meh.

Still don't think I've come across a "meat glue" situation. Definitely not when I buy my meat at places with a good meat department that cuts down their own steaks from larger cuts. Trying to fake a prime rib just to screw people over one the resulting ribeyes, for example, would be so much extra work, it would still be cheaper than just doing things the correct way.

And why is steak wasted on you? Cooked right, it's succulent, juicy, tender and full of natural flavors. A steak, baked potato piled high with shiat that's bad for me,and maybe a salad if I'm really hungry, is my absolute favorite meal. Of course, I've been perfecting my steak grilling for about 15 years now. I make a pretty tasty salmon, too, but that has less practice... :-)

Mikey1969:Canton: Mikey1969: Not sure why steak is on the list, I was always told that the solid muscle meats were harder to infect.

Meat glue? The glueing of steak scraps together to make big steak is a thing, and because the resulting "steaks" aren't actually solid muscle, there is more surface area for microbes to latch onto. So, if someone gets what they think is a whole steak, and undercooks it... well, there's your risk right there.

/Steak is wasted on me, anyway.//Meh.

Still don't think I've come across a "meat glue" situation. Definitely not when I buy my meat at places with a good meat department that cuts down their own steaks from larger cuts. Trying to fake a prime rib just to screw people over one the resulting ribeyes, for example, would be so much extra work, it would still be cheaper than just doing things the correct way.

And why is steak wasted on you? Cooked right, it's succulent, juicy, tender and full of natural flavors. A steak, baked potato piled high with shiat that's bad for me,and maybe a salad if I'm really hungry, is my absolute favorite meal. Of course, I've been perfecting my steak grilling for about 15 years now. I make a pretty tasty salmon, too, but that has less practice... :-)

Maybe that's true if you're getting your steak at the grocery store, or (better) a butcher shop, but what about a casual restaurant? How often do you get to see your meat before it's cooked?

And steak just tastes, well, boring to me. Even when it's a good cut, and well-grilled, it's just meh. But I didn't grow up on beef. It's not that I never had it, but lamb always was sort of the default meat. Chicken ran a close second. I'm not a big meat eater to begin with, so... Chicken, lamb, and fish are my go-to animal proteins. (Yum.) Unless it's St. Patrick's Day. Exceptions can always be made for corned beef.

Canton:Maybe that's true if you're getting your steak at the grocery store, or (better) a butcher shop, but what about a casual restaurant? How often do you get to see your meat before it's cooked?

And steak just tastes, well, boring to me. Even when it's a good cut, and well-grilled, it's just meh. But I didn't grow up on beef. It's not that I never had it, but lamb always was sort of the default meat. Chicken ran a close second. I'm not a big meat eater to begin with, so... Chicken, lamb, and fish are my go-to animal proteins. (Yum.) Unless it's St. Patrick's Day. Exceptions can always be made for corned beef.

We like to eat well, but we can't afford to eat out often, so we usually cook at home. My brother in law lives with us(Forever, apparently), and he went to culinary school, so we have that. Also. my wife subscribes to America's Test Kitchen, so we have a bonus there as well. Lamb to me, is way too greasy. I enjoy it occasionally, and always like lamb on my Gyros. Chicken is like pork, IMHO, it only tastes like whatever you add to it. Neither have very much flavor themselves. With beef, I can taste the meat, I can taste the blood and the flavor of the meat itself, it's why my tinkering is minimal. Different strokes, I guess...

As for this "meat glue", I still don't see how it's legal. If I go in and order a New York Strip, I don't want glued-together dregs. If I get off lucky, I'm paying $20 for that cut of meat, It had better damned well be what I ordered, not a bunch of spare parts "glued" together. Fark nutritional content, this is false representation of a product, and fraud in my book. I know some assholes lobbied their asses off on this, but that STILL doesn't explain how it became legal.

After working at a meat processing plant for a year and watching how it's done, I can say that "Hamburger" is something to avoid really. Use ground round, ground whatever, just not hamburger. That's the outermost meats which is the most easily contaminated when the hide is removed. Cows are filthy friggin animals and that stuff will get EVERYWHERE.

Mikey1969:Canton: Maybe that's true if you're getting your steak at the grocery store, or (better) a butcher shop, but what about a casual restaurant? How often do you get to see your meat before it's cooked?

And steak just tastes, well, boring to me. Even when it's a good cut, and well-grilled, it's just meh. But I didn't grow up on beef. It's not that I never had it, but lamb always was sort of the default meat. Chicken ran a close second. I'm not a big meat eater to begin with, so... Chicken, lamb, and fish are my go-to animal proteins. (Yum.) Unless it's St. Patrick's Day. Exceptions can always be made for corned beef.

We like to eat well, but we can't afford to eat out often, so we usually cook at home. My brother in law lives with us(Forever, apparently), and he went to culinary school, so we have that. Also. my wife subscribes to America's Test Kitchen, so we have a bonus there as well. Lamb to me, is way too greasy. I enjoy it occasionally, and always like lamb on my Gyros. Chicken is like pork, IMHO, it only tastes like whatever you add to it. Neither have very much flavor themselves. With beef, I can taste the meat, I can taste the blood and the flavor of the meat itself, it's why my tinkering is minimal. Different strokes, I guess...

As for this "meat glue", I still don't see how it's legal. If I go in and order a New York Strip, I don't want glued-together dregs. If I get off lucky, I'm paying $20 for that cut of meat, It had better damned well be what I ordered, not a bunch of spare parts "glued" together. Fark nutritional content, this is false representation of a product, and fraud in my book. I know some assholes lobbied their asses off on this, but that STILL doesn't explain how it became legal.

I cant comment on a New York Strip...i cant imagine how one of those could be glued together...but i do know that lesser cuts of Tenderloin can produce some scraggly bits of uneven filets - it has been known that they can be glued and rolled together to look like a better cut of filet...

Mikey1969:Canton: Maybe that's true if you're getting your steak at the grocery store, or (better) a butcher shop, but what about a casual restaurant? How often do you get to see your meat before it's cooked?

And steak just tastes, well, boring to me. Even when it's a good cut, and well-grilled, it's just meh. But I didn't grow up on beef. It's not that I never had it, but lamb always was sort of the default meat. Chicken ran a close second. I'm not a big meat eater to begin with, so... Chicken, lamb, and fish are my go-to animal proteins. (Yum.) Unless it's St. Patrick's Day. Exceptions can always be made for corned beef.

We like to eat well, but we can't afford to eat out often, so we usually cook at home. My brother in law lives with us(Forever, apparently), and he went to culinary school, so we have that. Also. my wife subscribes to America's Test Kitchen, so we have a bonus there as well. Lamb to me, is way too greasy. I enjoy it occasionally, and always like lamb on my Gyros. Chicken is like pork, IMHO, it only tastes like whatever you add to it. Neither have very much flavor themselves. With beef, I can taste the meat, I can taste the blood and the flavor of the meat itself, it's why my tinkering is minimal. Different strokes, I guess...

As for this "meat glue", I still don't see how it's legal. If I go in and order a New York Strip, I don't want glued-together dregs. If I get off lucky, I'm paying $20 for that cut of meat, It had better damned well be what I ordered, not a bunch of spare parts "glued" together. Fark nutritional content, this is false representation of a product, and fraud in my book. I know some assholes lobbied their asses off on this, but that STILL doesn't explain how it became legal.

As far as the "meat glue" thing goes, while it is a thing, I don't doubt that it's been overblown by the media. In the grocery, a "glued" piece of meat has to be labeled as such, at least according to Mother Jones, which has a pretty even-keeled take on the whole thing. Either way, maybe the risk comes down to people not cooking their steaks properly. People do like them rare, whereas pork (in the minds of most) still needs to be cooked through.

Let's see... Lamb has never struck me as being overly greasy, but then, maybe I'm just used to it. That, and even when my family had a "commercial" flock of crossbreds, they weren't strictly meat animals (the Corriedale/Merino/Lincoln crosses had some lovely wool) and a lot more slowly than your standard commercial Suffolks and Hampshires. They were probably leaner. The wool breed that my family still raises is leaner still. They're just not bred for size, but that doesn't mean there aren't culls. So the meat from them is probably less greasy than what you'd buy at the meat counter. (Bonus: I almost always know exactly where the lamb I eat comes from. Exception: The rare visit to a restaurant that serves kibbeh.)

Chicken has a pretty distinctive flavor, but yeah, it's mild. It takes on new flavors well. But it's still pretty recognizable. Pork, too, although I don't particularly care for pork that isn't cured or stuffed in a sausage. So there's that. And beef is just... I dunno. It's okay. I'd choose it over pork, and over (ugh) turkey, but we all have our favorites. Different strokes indeed. :)